When Penn State was in the market for a head football coach
in November, the name "Tony Dungy" floated around as a possible replacement for
Joe Paterno. Fans and media alike speculated: would the retired former
Indianapolis Colts head coach consider returning to football if the right
opportunity arose?

It's a question he's gotten on many occasions, and the Super
Bowl-winning football coach answered the million dollar question as part of a
keynote address on Tuesday night to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of
intercollegiate athletics at Messiah.

"People ask me all the time, now that I'm retired and I'm
working for NBC: 'Do you miss it? Do you think you'll ever go back?'"
Dungy said, in front of a sold-out crowd of about 2,000 people at Messiah
College's Hitchcock Arena.

"I'll let you in on a little secret if you promise not
to tell," the coach said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

"I missed the people I worked with, our staff and the
players, and that interaction back and forth. I miss that a lot," Dungy
said. "But I love the season of life I'm in now, I love what I'm doing. I
get to spend more time with my wife and my kids, watching them grow up, and
seeing them perform on the athletic field, and also getting time to do things
like this.

"Coming here to meet new people, speaking to young men
and women. That's something I enjoy. I just feel like God has given me a new
platform now, and a new mission in life, and given me a chance to interact with
young people."

The short answer: Sorry folks, Dungy's not coming back to
football.

But in a speech directed at Messiah's student-athletes,
Dungy talked about the role football played in his life, and urged them to make
an impact on the people around them.

To illustrate his point, Dungy singled out a couple of
former players from his days as head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucaneers.

"People ask me, 'Who's your favorite player that you've
coached, or who's the best player that you've coached,' That's always a hard
one to pick out," Dungy said. "But when I think of the impact that
people have made, Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn stand out."

Brooks, an All-Pro linebacker, started a charity and youth
scholarship foundation called The Brooks Bunch to motivate inner city youth in
the Tampa Area to excel in the classroom. Their reward for good grades was an
annual educational trip to a locale of their choice. Dungy and his wife,
Lauren, accompanied Brooks and a group of kids to South Africa one year, in
what Dungy said was "one of the greatest trips of my life."

Running
back Warrick Dunn lost his mother when at the age of 18. After a successful
collegiate career at Florida State, he was drafted by the Bucaneers. That year,
he moved his four younger siblings to Tampa and moonlighted as a parent as he
worked to establish himself in the NFL. As a tribute to his mom, Dunn later
started a program to help build homes for single mothers.

"I want to challenge you tonight," Dungy told the
athletes in the audience. "Use the things you've learned to have an impact
on the lives of others."

The coached drove home his message with what he called his
favorite verse in the Bible: Matthew 16:26.

"For what will it profit a man to gain the whole world,
but forfeit his soul?"

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